Brothers Support Brothers
by madwhaleistruelove
Summary: Gerhardt finds out that Victor and Jefferson are in a relationship, and Victor worries about the consequences. [Jefferson/Victor, High School AU]


**Just a little high school AU thing I thought of today. I enjoy this AU and I'm thinking of making more for it.**

 **Please remember it has been around 3 years since I wrote my last Once Upon a Time fanfiction, so forgive me if I'm a little rusty.**

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Victor and Jefferson had done quite a good job of hiding their relationship so far, knowing the consequences that it could hold for Victor in his strict, conservative home.

Only a limited number of people at school knew about them - Ruby, being Victor's best friend, of course knew, along with her girlfriend Dorothy - but everyone else was completely in the dark, and not even Victor's younger brother Gerhardt - his most treasured person, probably tied with Jefferson – knew about them.

The two brothers were incredibly close, despite being almost total opposites. Gerhardt was the younger brother – tall, charismatic, and popular, the apple of his father's eye. He was the star of their school's football team, and there was almost no one at school who disliked him.

Victor, however, was shorter than his younger brother, socially awkward and most people found him rather odd, while his father harboured a hatred for him that neither brother had been able to figure out.

The older Frankenstein brother did hate keeping such a secret from Gerhardt, because usually, they shared everything. Countless times had Victor heard about Gerhardt's crush on the beautiful girl that was always in the library at school, and how he was always too shy to tell her how he felt. Normally, Victor would be fine with telling Gerhardt of someone he liked. But this was different. Victor had been dating a guy.

Mr. Frankenstein wasn't quiet about his homophobia, and though Gerhardt was known for his kind demeanour, Victor didn't know his stance on these sorts of things. He always seemed to go quiet when Alphonse and his business associates would start on their bigoted tirades at dinner parties. Besides, if he knew, he could accidentally let it slip to their father, and the results could be catastrophic.

So, Victor and Jefferson kept their romance behind closed doors. After school was a perfect time for them to spend some time together in the Frankenstein's huge house, as Alphonse was still at work and Gerhardt was at football practice. They wouldn't be disturbed for hours.

Jefferson took advantage of this, of course, pushing Victor against the wall of his bedroom and kissing him passionately as soon as the door was shut. Not being able to show affection for Victor in public was hard for him, so he always tried to make up for it whenever their alone time came around.

"You know… my father will be on a business trip this weekend… and Gerhardt will probably be at Liam's house the whole time, so… we'll have the house to ourselves the entire two days." Victor explained between kisses, and it took almost triple the time it would have normally taken to say the sentence if Jefferson weren't so intent on kissing him.

"Oh, fantastic. I look forward to it."

Just as Jefferson was beginning to unbutton Victor's shirt, the door opened and a familiar voice travelled to Victor's ears. "Victor, Papa called and said he would be late-"

It was Gerhardt. Gerhardt had just walked in to Victor's room, seeing his big brother up against the wall, his pale face flushed and legs wrapped around another guy's waist. All three males in the room stared at each other in disbelief, no one moving or making the slightest noise. At least, until a few minutes later when Victor began to speak, and there was a fear in his voice that Jefferson had only heard when Victor disclosed things about his father's actions when he ended up at the other's window in the middle of the night.

"You... I thought you had football practice..." The older Frankenstein said, letting go of Jefferson and walking as far away from him as possible. He smoothed his blond hair with a hand, looking nervous and incredibly mortified. He wasn't even making eye contact with Gerhardt, showing how worried he was.

"I convinced Coach to give me the afternoon off, I have a book report to do... I just wanted to tell you that Papa was going to be later than usual..." Gerhardt stated, still looking stunned, but walking over to where his brother had gone.

Jefferson thought it was best to stay out of this. He did have one sibling, a little sister, but she was far too young to have much real drama yet. Though, something told him he needed to let the two brothers talk. He did decide to stay in the room however, for emotional support.

Victor sighed, shaking slightly. "Listen, Gerhardt... just please don't tell anyone what you saw here, especially Papa. I'll do anything. You know what he'll do if he finds out that I'm..."

"...Gay?"

"...Bisexual, actually, but I doubt our father will see the difference." Victor looked up at his younger brother, pleadingly. Alphonse hated his older son enough already, without knowing he wasn't straight. Seeing his father would be even more hellish than it already was, and he might even get kicked out on the street. Then again, he might be able to live with Jefferson... That thought was nice, but he didn't want to lose Gerhardt. He hoped that his relationship with his brother would never change. If Victor was kicked out and disowned, their father would surely ban Gerhardt from seeing his brother. "You won't tell him, will you? I promise that I will... do all your homework for you if you keep this secret for me."

"Victor, I'm not going to tell Papa." Gerhardt placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. Victor looked at him, his blue eyes wide. "Listen, I don't care about your sexuality, Victor. You're my brother, and I want you to be happy. Our father is just wrong. There's nothing wrong with you, or..."

Gerhardt looked over to Jefferson. "I don't know your name."

"Jefferson. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The brunet gave an awkward smile.

"There's nothing wrong with you or Jefferson! And I know Mother would say the same thing if she were here."

Victor gave a slightly sad, nostalgic smile. "She always was more accepting..."

"Exactly. So, of course I'll keep your secret, Victor. We're brothers, we're supposed to keep secrets for each other, I mean... you know things that I would never dare tell any of my friends!"

"Yes, like your huge crush on Belle French. I could get Ruby to introduce you to her, you know, they're quite good friends."

In the corner, Jefferson laughed quietly, while Gerhardt's cheeks tinted a slightly red shade. Victor couldn't help but laugh a little too - it was funny to see a popular football player like Gerhardt get so flustered simply at the mention of a girl he liked.

Gerhardt cleared his throat, trying to hide his embarrassment, though it was hard to take him seriously with the colour of his cheeks. "Yes, like that... and we can talk about it later."

"No need to be embarrassed, Gerhardt. I won't tell anyone." Jefferson promised, smirking.

"Thank you." Gerhardt nodded, moving towards Victor's bedroom door. "Now, I have that book report to do. I'll let you two be alone."

"Wait a second, Gerhardt... thank you, so much. You really are a great brother." Victor said, smiling. "I'm just glad it's you who caught us instead of Papa."

"You're welcome, Victor. And I'm very glad as well." Gerhardt returned his brother's smile, and then turned to the other male in the room. "Jefferson, I hope you'll take good care of my brother."

"Oh, I definitely will." Jefferson winked, speaking with a suggestive tone that made both Frankenstein brothers blush. Gerhardt slipped out of the room silently, while Victor looked at his boyfriend with an annoyed expression.

"Don't say embarrassing things like that in front of my brother, Jefferson!"

"Don't worry, Vic. He supports us!"


End file.
